Crossed Fates

Chapter 42: Gynophobia

Later that day...

Luke: "Man... Doesn't Tyler just fall asleep quick?"

Tezuka: "Teehee. He does."

Liv: "Wish I could be as laid back as he is sometimes."

Luna: "Agreed... I would looooooove to fall asleep quickly."

Jesse: "So... How come Toby stayed behind with him?"

Luke: "No idea. He is a cat... Maybe he needs a nice nap?"

Luna: "3 of our teammates are animals."

Luke: "Huh?"

Luna: "3 of our teammates are animals. Toby, Liv and Tezuka."

Luke: "So?"

Luna: "I dunno. I just kinda wanted to point it out... Say, Jesse?"

Jesse: "Hm?"

Luna: "What are you, if I may ask?"

Jesse: "Human."

Liv: "Human, ay? Boooooooooooooooring!"

Tezuka: "Yeah. Booooooooooooooooooooooooooring."

Jesse: "B-Boring?"

Luke: "Pay no attention to it, Jess."

Luna: "So, we have 3 humans, 3 animals, and 1 elf. Hah! I'm the most unique here!"

Liv: "Wrong! It's me! I'm a transmogrified animal!"

Tezuka: "I'm a Kitsune, and since my kind is on the verge of extinction, I'm the most unique."

Jesse: "I'm a lab experiment! That's got to be unique."

Luke: "I don't think it's a competition..."

Tezuka: "Oh yeah? How are you unique, Luke? Blow off my socks, dude!"

Luke: "Well. I'm the only healer, so take that!"

Liv: "Hmph... Lame."

Tezuka: "Well, I salute you for keeping us alive, dear friendo."

Luke: "Thank you, Tezuka-"

???: "N-no! G-Get off of me! H-HELP! S-SOMEONE!"

Everyone turns their head to the sudden call of desperation.

Luna: "Oh, sugar."

Luke: "Someone's in trouble! I gotta help them!"

Luke runs ahead towards the noise, and everyone follows ahead. They eventually stumble across who seems to be a teenager, He seems to wearing a long grey jacket, with a black undersuit underneath. He's wearing black combat boots, and he has some black gloves on. He's desperately trying to push away a person who has a huge hole in their torso with no blood.

Tezuka: "Oh shit! It's just a kid!"

Jesse: "Gyahh! Luke! It's another one of those husks!"

Luke: "They're here!? Go get em, Jesse!"

Luna: "Huh?"

Jesse readies her blade, and she swiftly cuts the husk vertically in half. The boy falls on his ass, and he stares at the husk in horror. He seems to be catching his breath. Luna walks up to him, and she leans down towards him.

Luna: "Are you okay?"

The boy looks up towards Luna, and he freezes. Sweat is trickling down his face.

Liv: "Hyahahaha! Oh, man! He froze!"

Luke: "Must be from that sudden attack, you alright, kid?"

The boy quickly looks towards Luke, and he quickly gets up and hides behind him.

Luke: "Huh? What the-"

???: "Too many women... T-Too many women... Oh fuck, oh shit..."

Tezuka giggles.

Tezuka: "Come on... we won't bite... Liv might!"

Liv: "Ay! What the hell was that, ay? I don't bite!"

???: "Oh god... oh shit..."

He shivers really badly, and Luke smacks him in the face.

Luke: "Hey! You degenerate! Calm down! They're just women!"

The boy stumbles back, and he shakes his head.

???: "I-I-"

Luna: "Yeah, we aren't gonna do anything to you."

Jesse: "I-I'm not scary, am I?"

???: "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

He clutches on to Luke desperately.

Luke: "Okay, geez! I-I'll be right back, guys."

Luke drags him behind a tree.

Luke: "What's the deal with you, kid?"

???: "Women... so scary..."

He starts tearing up, and he curls up into a ball and begins rocking himself.

Luke: "What?! How are they scary?"

???: "Dad... Uncle... Grandpa... All said they were scary, that they'd rob you of everything, suck away your life, and-"

Luke cuts him off.

Luke: "I think you've been raised into a sexist, buddy."

???: "Sexist?"

He wipes his tears, and he looks at him curiously.

Luke: "A sexist. Y'know... When you're prejudiced against the opposite gender? What you're doing right now? Say, what were you doing by yourself out here?"

???: "I... I was with my Dad. He took me into that dungeon, but we got attacked. A lot of those weird husk people ripped him open... A-and..."

He hics.

???: "I just ran as far as I could, he told me to."

Luke looks at him with empathy.

Luke: "Oh, sorry to hear, man."

The boy shakes his head.

???: "Sorry."

Luke: "Huh? Don't be."

The boy takes a deep breath, and his voice goes soft.

Dom: "I-I'm Dom, if you're wondering."

Luke: "Dom, huh? So, you were raised into being scared of women?"

Dom: "T-That was my first time seeing them."

Luke's eyes widen.

Luke: "The hell? Seriously? How'd you manage to go without seeing a girl for like, however many years?"

Dom: "I'm 17."

Luke: "...17 years, then. How'd you manage that?"

Dom: "I was raised by my Dad, Uncles and Grandpa. Dad said mom divorced him and took all almost all of his belongings, and left me with him solely to raise."

He sighs.

Dom: "But now my father is gone..."

He pulls out a stopwatch, and he shows it to Luke.

Dom: "This... is everything I have left of him."

Luke shakes his head out of sympathy.

Luke: "So... Your upbringing is just you-"

Jesse pops up from behind the tree.

Jesse: "Hey, I think the kid dropped this."

She hands Luke a short sword with an orange hilt and a pearlescent colored blade.

Luke: "Damn, Dom! You got some good taste in weapons."

He looks towards Dom, who's gone stiff at the sight of Jesse. Luke looks towards Jesse, and he shoos her away.

Luke: "Okay, so... We need you to get over this whole fear of women, alright?"

Dom: "T-They'll suck the life out of me! I don't wanna die, I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

Luke smacks him again.

Luke: "Get a grip, man! Your fucking family were just overexaggerating about them! They don't do any of that! They aren't going to suck the life out of you!  They can't even do that anyways!"

Dom: "Urk..."

Dom snatches his sword back, and he stands up.

Dom: "I... I will be cautious of the women."

Luke grins.

Luke: "Uhm, so... What do you wanna do?"

Dom looks at him with a lost face.

Dom: "Uhm..."

He stands up quickly, and he looks up towards Luke.

Dom: "Mister."

Luke: "It's Luke."

Dom: "Luke. I want to enter the dungeon again... I have to retrieve my dad's things. My Uncles and Grandpa deserve to know what happened to him."

Luke: "That's nice of you, Dom. I'll help you. Me and my squad will help you!"

Dom shakes his head.

Dom: "B-But they're all girls, though!"

Luke smirks impishly at him.

Luke: "You act like a girl, though. Quit being a damn pussy and let them help you."

Dom: "B-But..."

Luke sighs.

Luke: "Listen, if they even try to suck the life out of you, just... I dunno, come back to me."

Dom: "O-Okay..."

He grabs hold of Luke, and he clings onto him as he eventually approaches the others again.

Luna: "Welcome back, hon."

Tezuka: "So, did the kid learn that women don't bite?"

Dom gulps, and shivers again. Tezuka chuckles.

Tezuka: "No, huh?"

Luna: "Come on, don't tease him."

Luke: "Yeah. Leave him alone."

Jesse: "So, uh... What were you two talking about?"

Luke: "Remember that dungeon from yesterday, Jess?"

Jesse: "Oh no."

Luke: "The kid's dad died in there, and he wants to go and retrieve his stuff so he can bring it back to his family."

Luna: "Oh dear. I'm sorry to hear that."

Dom: "...You guys aren't gonna suck the life out of me, are you?"

Tezuka: "Suck the life out of you? I mean... I've sucked the life out of someone before-"

Dom stares at her in horror.

Dom: "W-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!? Y-You lied, Luke!"

Luke: "Tezuka? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Liv: "Yeah! I don't wanna hear any of that sexual bullshit coming from your mouth!"

Tezuka: "Oh, come on. It's rare to run into someone scared of women. This is fun."

Luna: "Tezuka, I beg. Please don't be an asshole."

Tezuka: "Boo. Fine. Sorry, young one. I don't suck the life out of people."

Dom: "G-Good! I-If you try and suck the life out of me... I-I'll kill you!"

He clutches onto the hilt of his blade, and he points it at Tezuka.

Jesse: "Hey! No threatening lives!"

Luke: "Come on, Dom. Cut it out."

Tezuka: "Yeah, cut it out! And I don't mean cut my soul out of my body with your blade. I just mean cut it out with the violence... Wait, Poor choice of words again, I meant-"

Dom: "I'm not stupid, lady. I get what you meant!"

He lowers his blade.

Dom: "Luke, please. Can we go into the dungeon now?"

Luke: "Hm? Oh, yeah. We should get going as quickly as we can for you, Dom."

Dom: "Y-You seriously have no idea how thankful I am for your help, Luke."

Luke: "Heh. It's the least I can do, Dom."

Everyone present then quickly journeys ahead into the said dungeon. Luke creates an orb of light to allow everyone to see once more.

Jesse: "Still creepy..."

Liv: "What the hell!?! Why the hell is there so much fucking blood on the walls!?!"

Luna: "This place seriously gives me the creeps."

Luke: "Hah! Me, Jesse and Tyler were in here last night... It was horrifying. Also, this is where Neo came to be."

Dom: "Tyler..? Where are they now?"

Luke: "Oh, Napping in our camp. Why?"

Dom: "I-Is he a boy?!"

Luke: "Of course he is!"

Dom: "Phew... Thank god. I thought you just had a harem as your team."

Luke blushes.

Luke: "H-Hell no! The elf is my one and only true love right now!"

Luna: "...right now?"

Luke: "Y-You know what I meant!"

Luna: "No. I don't think I did, Luke."

Tezuka leans in towards Liv and Jesse.

Tezuka: "Yeesh... Poor bastard. You guys haven't been snogging with him, have ya?"

Liv: "Fuck no!"

Jesse: "I-I don't even want to get close to a man in that way."

Tezuka: "Why not, Jesse?"

Jesse: "After what Liv said to me and how you described it... I-I don't even want to think about it. That's nasty and gross."

Liv: "Hyahahaha! Jesse's scared of penis!"

Tezuka: "Oh, trust me. I too, was scared of that monster-"

Luna: "ANSWER ME TRUTHFULLY, LUKE! ARE YOU HIDING SOMETHING FROM ME!?!"

Luke: "On Uh, no I'm not."

Luna: "...Okay!"

She smiles at Luke, and she continues walking through the dungeon.

Tezuka: "Forget this place... Luna gives me the creeps even more."

Liv: "Yer damn right..."

Luke: "Alright, Peeps! and Dom. Further down, we're gonna get swarmed. No joke, this place is deadly. So just be prepared in the meantime."

Dom: "We got swarmed by a bunch of those husks. I barely made it out alive. A-And I could've died if it weren't for you guys. I didn't expect them to be following me."

Luke: "Just stay close to us, Dom. I won't let you die either."

Liv: "Erm... Why didn't we go and get Toby and Tyler before going in here?"

Luke: "I just wanted to let them get enough rest. No issues with that, is there?"

Jesse: "I have problems with that, Luke."

Luna: "Well, we're already too far in. Let's just get this over and done with, why don't we?"

Luke: "Y-Yes. Let's."

They continue onwards. They begin to hear groaning.

Luna: "Huh? W-What's that noise?"

Jesse: "They're near! Just be careful, since they can swarm you from anywhere!"

Tezuka: "Anywhere, huh?"

Tezuka lights herself on fire, and she opens her mouth, breathing fire far down the dungeon. She reveals a whole horde of husks further ahead.

Others: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Tezuka: "Woah. That's... A lot of... people."

The fire lighting the dungeon quickly dissipates. The mass sounds of footsteps and things scratching against the floor edge closer to the group.

Luke: "J-Just man the fort, guys! Don't let a single one scratch you! A-And if one does end up  scratching you, just know that as your healer, I'll heal you! No questions asked at all!"